Newbie

[bat4255]

Hi there,

I just signed up, and have a few questions. I could not find the specific answers, so I hope I'm not repeating a previous post.

I am considering purchasing a Prius for my wife. She is a rural mail carrier, and I was thinking this would be a choice, here is the thing. Normally, any mail car is a P.O.S., because of the abuse, and hard life it has. Brakes and transmissions, need frequent preventive maintaince, or you will pay big time later. I'm almost afraid to get a good car for this job, I would feel sorry for it, for life would be hard, especially in winter

90% is stop and go driving, 27 miles, with 380 stops a day, 6 days a week. Any normal car, will get 1/2 of the normal mileage. A 30 mpg Buick, gets 15 on the route.

My thinking is, mileage is better on the Prius, with stop and go driving, due to the batteries being recharged on deceleration (is this correct?). Initially, it seems like the perfect vehicle, IF the following questions are positive.

So here are the questions

1- Is a bench, or split bench seat available for the front? right hand drive is not desired, but the driver will need to be sitting in the passenger area.

2- Will the braking be able to handle it ? Will the battery recharge during deceleration, increase the brake pad life?
In a standard car, with heavy duty brake rotors, I replace pads twice a year, about every 6,000 miles.

3- How is it in the snow, and are there ground clearance issues?

4-Would the drive train be durable enough for this use?

5-Life span of the batteries?

Thanks in advance for any advise you may have

Jim

[qbee42]

The Prius is perfect for this sort of stop and go driving. The transmission and brakes will last much, much longer than an ordinary car under similar circumstances. The Prius is not available with a front bench seat, but its controls are easy to use and should work for a postal person. Battery life in taxi use has been more than 200,000 miles. Ground clearance is similar to most front-wheel-drive autos, maybe a bit better than some, however it's not a truck or SUV. We have had good luck with ours in snow, although we traded the OEM tires for better all-season tires.

Tom

[Doc Willie]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jim O @ Nov 8 2007, 06:58 PM) [snapback]536954[/snapback]</div>

So here are the questions

1- Is a bench, or split bench seat available for the front? right hand drive is not desired, but the driverwill need to be sitting in the passinger area.

2- Will the braking be able to handle it ? Will the battery recharge during deceleration, increase the brake pad life?
In a standard car, with heavy duty brake rotors, I replace pads twice a year, about every 6,000 miles.

3- How is it in the snow, and are there ground clearance issues?

4-Would the drive train be durable enough for this use?

5-Life span of the batteries?

Thanks in advance for any advise you may have

Jim
[/b]

1. Not that I know of, unless somebody has done something aftermarket.

2. Yes and yes.

3. Yes. the car sits rather low, and will probably not do well in deep snow.

4. Absolutely.

5. 100K warranty. Taxi fleets (also plenty of abuse) are past 200K with no problems. The present known record is 322K.


Except for 1 and 3, this would be an ideal vehicle.

[Rangerdavid]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jim O @ Nov 8 2007, 06:58 PM) [snapback]536954[/snapback]</div>

So here are the questions

1- Is a bench, or split bench seat available for the front? right hand drive is not desired, but the driverwill need to be sitting in the passinger area.

2- Will the braking be able to handle it ? Will the battery recharge during deceleration, increase the brake pad life?
In a standard car, with heavy duty brake rotors, I replace pads twice a year, about every 6,000 miles.

3- How is it in the snow, and are there ground clearance issues?

4-Would the drive train be durable enough for this use?

5-Life span of the batteries?
[/b]

1. Bench not available. right hand drive is sold in other countries.
2. Breaking will not only be able to handle it, they will perform better, and last longer than in a regular vehicle due to the regenerative breaking.
3. Not bad in the snow, I have replaced the original tires with the Michelin Hydroedge tires which are better tires.
4. Drive train would not only last, it has proven itself to go well over 250,000 miles in taxi cabs......

Prius would be good for what you need it for i think. Even if it gets bad mileage, you should be getting well over 30, 35 or 40 or so probably. Its also a very safe car. if you have worries, buy a used one. Even one or two years old should give you years of service, assuming no prior damage.

Good luck, and if you do get one, let us know and we can all help answer questions, and help with mileage and maintenance issues.

[Tideland Prius]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jim O @ Nov 8 2007, 03:58 PM) [snapback]536954[/snapback]</div>

Hi there,

I just signed up, and have a few questions. I could not find the specific answers, so I hope I'm not repeating a previous post.

I am considering purchasing a Prius for my wife. She is a rural mail carrier, and I was thinking this would be a choice, here is the thing. Normally, any mail car is a P.O.S., because of the abuse, and hard life it has. Brakes and transmissions, need frequent preventive maintaince, or you will pay big time later. I'm almost afraid to get a good car for this job, I would feel sorry for it, for life would be hard, especially in winter

90% is stop and go driving, 27 miles, with 380 stops a day, 6 days a week. Any normal car, will get 1/2 of the normal mileage. A 30 mpg Buick, gets 15 on the route.

My thinking is, mileage is better on the Prius, with stop and go driving, due to the batteries being recharged on deceleration (is this correct?). Initially, it seems like the perfect vehicle, IF the following questions are positive.

So here are the questions

1- Is a bench, or split bench seat available for the front? right hand drive is not desired, but the driverwill need to be sitting in the passinger area.

2- Will the braking be able to handle it ? Will the battery recharge during deceleration, increase the brake pad life?
In a standard car, with heavy duty brake rotors, I replace pads twice a year, about every 6,000 miles.

3- How is it in the snow, and are there ground clearance issues?

4-Would the drive train be durable enough for this use?

5-Life span of the batteries?

Thanks in advance for any advise you may have

Jim
[/b]

I believe someone here actually uses the Prius as a "mailvan". I don't recall the person but it was a white Prius lol.

Anyway, here are my answers

1. no BUT the way the centre console and dashboard have been designed, moving from left to right (or vice versa) is pretty easy. I've actually "stood up" and "walked" out the passenger side door before thanks to the low console box and empty area below the dashboard to squeeze my legs through

2. Yep. Recharge happens as long as you don't brake too hard. Also if you drain the battery by travelling in EV mode (and it will happen during summer unless you intentionally accelerate a bit harder to get the engine on), then your mileage will drop. It'll still be better than 15mpg (or 30 for that matter) but not as good as it could be

3. Slap on some winter tyres. The stock Goodyear Integritys are crappy in the snow. The ground clearance is a bit low so perhaps a taller tyre might help

4. Yep it'll take it. There are TONS of Prius cabs here. In fact, it's either a Prius or a Corolla in my city lol. Other models are harder to find. I haven't seen a Crown Vic cab in ages

5. The life of the car. Our cabbies do up to 100,000 miles a year. Some of them are already approaching 350,000 miles. (Some have exceeded that but that's a small handful since those will be earlier cars before the mass adoption of the Prius as a taxi around 2005/2006)

[Orf]

If you move the front passengers seat fully forward and remove the head rest, you can lay the the back of the seat down so that it is flat. However, there is no way you can drive the Prius from the passengers side.

[bat4255]

Thanks for the feedback.

It looks like the determining factor will be the seating. Maybe if the center console was removed, or somehow modified. It looks like we will be checking one out soon. The Prius otherwise is a very logical vehicle, espically for this use.

Jim

[Tideland Prius]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jim O @ Nov 8 2007, 05:14 PM) [snapback]537002[/snapback]</div>

Thanks for the feedback.

It looks like the determining factor will be the seating. Maybe if the center console was removed, or somehow modified. It looks like we will be checking one out soon. The Prius otherwise is a very logical vehicle, espically for this use.

Jim
[/b]

Someone has removed the centre console and moved it back 2 inches. Perhaps you can try that same modification?

[Husker4theSpurs]

One worry I would have would be ground clearance ... sometimes that's an issue on rural roads with a lot of gravel on them. Also, if the roads are muddy that's sometimes not the best for the Hybrid Synergy Drive system. Again, I am saying this w/o knowing the exact driving conditions she'd face.

Overall it would be good otherwise b/c of the long brake life and the type of driving she'd be doing.

[davidtm]

I would think it's possible to order a right-hand drive version, though the US-specifications could make it complicated. I'd think it's worth asking a Toyota dealer.